Sri Lankan daily attacked again, twice in two weeks

New
York, April 15, 2013--Sri Lankan authorities must immediately investigate an
attack on the offices of a Tamil-language newspaper and bring the perpetrators
to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The offices of Uthayan have been attacked twice in two
weeks.

Three
unidentified armed men entered the offices of the daily Uthayan in the provincial capital of Jaffna early Saturday, and
torched the printing press, news reports said. The attackers also
damaged an electricity panel and set fire to copies of the newspaper awaiting
delivery, the reports said. Newspaper employees at the office fled the scene in
panic, according to news reports.

No
injuries were reported, but news accounts reported that the paper's main
printing press was destroyed in the attack. Premananth Thevanayagam, an editor
for the paper, told the
local organization Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka that the attack would
hamper production.

Uthayan is aligned with
the Tamil National Alliance, an umbrella organization of parties that
represents Tamils in the Northern Province. The
paper's owner, E. Saravanapavan, who is a member of the Tamil National Alliance
and a member of parliament, told the news media that he
believed the newspaper could have been attacked by either the military or
groups linked to the military. He said the newspaper had recently published
articles about the increasing takeover of business and industry in the north of
Sri Lanka by the armed forces. He also said that with provincial elections looming
in September, the government sees the newspaper as opposing its interests,
reports said.

The
military denied the accusations in a statement. A police
investigation that was concluded within five hours said the attack was an
"inside job" in an effort to tarnish the image of the government, news reports
said. Saravanapavan rejected the government's accusations, reports said.

This
most recent attack follows an earlier attack on April 3 in
which several employees were injured and equipment damaged at the newspaper's
Kilinochchi office in the Northern Province.

"These
attacks on the offices of Uthayan have
been going on for years and typify the threats faced by the Tamil press in Sri
Lanka," said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Bob Dietz. "They also highlight the abysmal
record of impunity that attackers enjoy in Sri Lanka. Under the ruling Rajapaksa regime, the
record of abuse aimed at Sri Lanka's media is unmatched in the country's
history."

CPJ
has documented several attacks on Uthayan in previous years. In July
2011, the daily's news editor was brutally beaten, and in March
2009, its office was bombed.